Reunions
by thamadhatter
Summary: This fan fic takes place a short time after Conquer. The group survived the attack of the Wolves but a run crew needed to go out for some supplies. Michonne is a part of this crew and they have not returned on time so people are fearing the worse. I made this fic out of the need for a Richonne reunion scene. I will be reworking old Richonne reunions. This is a multichapter.
1. Chapter 1 - Can't Wait Til Morning

**_So here we go. This is after Conquer (season 5 finale). The Wolves have attacked and been fought off. Though no one knows if that was all of them. Michonne and Glenn are missing along with some ASZ residents (Heath, Scott and Nick) after going off on a supposed short supply run for some meds and food. Of course I do not own The Walking Dead of any of its characters. This fan fic was simply inspired by our need for a heartfelt Richonne reunion scene on the show._**

 **Chapter 1 - Can't Wait Til Morning**

"Rick, are you really sure about this?"

Rick engrossed in a deep train of thought finally looked up from the sea of maps after hearing Maggie's voice cut through the silence in the room like a razor sharp knife. His eyes went to Maggie who sat on top of the wicker basket under the living room window. He noticed the concern in her eyes as moonlight and candlelight mixed together and cast a shadow on her face making her hazel sleep deprived eyes seem more pronounced. He tilted his head and gave her confused look but then panned around the room shifting in a circle in a kneel position on the balls of his feet to see all the tired and weary eyes on him from Daryl to Aaron to Rosita to Abe to Sasha to Carl to Morgan and then to Carol. He realized he had become the main attraction and let out a heavy breath and stood up. He observed the house glowing in the flickering light of a dozen candles and noticed the messes lying all arond from their late night strategy session. He could see plates of half eaten food piled up on the marble island of their modern and cold stainless steel kitchen looking like stranded survivors waiting to be cleaned up and put in their proper home. He eyes then observed the cushy brown living room chairs and the beige sofa rearranged into a semi circle so all could see and hear each other as they tried to figure out their next move. Then finally his eyes landed on the hard wood floors to the shoes piled up at the door and the thin plaid blankets they made out of old shirts splayed on the living room floor to provide some sort of barrier for people's behind and the cold hard floor though now no one really sat on them. He realized looking back up again that as he stood everyone else stood awaiting and anticipating his next movement. He felt odd in his tattered black jeans, white socked feet soaking up the feel of the icy frost of the floor and his white T-shirt stained with dried up sweat turned cold by the evening air circulating throughout the spacious house escaping in and out from under the cracks of the windows.

 _'Michonne would totally kill me if she saw the place like this.'_ He thought to himself. Just the thought of Michonne brought him back to the matter at hand.

"This is Glenn and Michonne we're talking about Maggie. We have a plan. I'm ready to go right now. I'm sorry but I just can't sit here and wait this thing out any longer. We know they were going to check out a pharmacy and some stores on Crooks Road and Chestlehurst Way. Aaron said we can use his RV and Abe and Sasha are coming along with me to check it out."

"I'm coming too." Rick darted his eyes to Daryl and shook his head causing his black curly swept back locks to shake before he spoke in protest.

"But we need you here, Daryl."

He watched as Daryl in sleeveless tattered leather vest and dirty jeans played with his crossbow and flicked away some of his long strands of hair from his face with is weathered pale hands made his case. 'What if they had to run off in the woods or something? You can't track for shit, Rick. Abe maybe can give me a run for my money but I'm coming too.'

Rick rubbed the scruff of grey and black beard with his bandaged covered left hand. He could feel the blood rushing to his face causing it to turn from light shade of pink to almost blood red. He just couldn't help but think Daryl didn't want to say the real reason he wanted to go. He wanted to burst out in words of anger at the group for doubting his ability to keep it together as everyone looked at him the way you would look at spilled milk. Like he was done and a lost cause. He could tell they all saw him as an unraveling man and they didn't trust Abe and Sasha alone to string him back together.

Rick turned to Carol as she chimed in, 'Rick it's fine. Maggie and I can help Carl watch over Judith.'

Rick shook his head again and this time brought his left thumb and index fingers into a squeeze on the brim of his nose and held it there feeling the white strip of bandage tape that laid there as a remnant of his patch-up after taking a hard punch in the face from an intruder in the safe zone. He still didn't like this change to the plans but finally acquiesced. He didn't want to waste any more time on logistics. 'Fine, but we still leave in an hour.' He said as he felt the firmness of his demand stiffen up in his throat.

"It's pitch black out there, Rick." Sasha chimed in from a corner closer to the door.

Rick opened his mouth to respond but darted his eyes to Maggie as he noticed her approaching him and without saying a word take him gentle by the wrist and guide him aside to the corner of the room nearest the kitchen. 'Look Rick I know exactly how you feel. You don't think I want to go out there right now and look for Glenn?' His ears perked up despite the whisper and softness of her tone. He wondered if she was trying to imply something. He shook the thought from his mind and continued to listen to her plea.

"Look Rick, I'm just trying to do what I think Glenn would want. Maybe that means waiting it out a few more hours for the sun to come up. I mean maybe they are on their way back right now. Do you really think Michonne would want you to put yourself and others at risk to look for her in the dead of night?"

Rick knew the answer to that question all too well. He knew Michonne never wanted people to put themselves at risk for her but he found himself pulled to do this right now. His anxiety had started to overwhelm him. He had images flash into his mind of Michonne stuck somewhere waiting for him and he didn't want to let her down. Glenn either but his mind kept him focused on Michonne. He thought back to everything he had said to her about the way she influenced him and he knew he meant every word when he told her she could have convinced him to relinquish any plans he made with Carol and Daryl. She had a hold on him he hadn't quite tried to think about. He just often found himself going along with it because it just felt so natural and true. Coming to ASZ and being reminded of the past, of Lori and his failures as a leader and partner made him want to put up every wall in the world to hide what was going in his mind from Michonne.

 _'Why drag her down with my fears and paranoia? She deserves this place more than me.'_ He often thought to himself. He found himself wanting to create distance but in the end couldn't help himself. He couldn't help but feel incomplete and at a loss when not in her orbit.

 _It is perfect as it is_. He had convinced himself time and time again and if he ever wanted more he always had his dreams to appease those urges. So he often found himself staring a little too long at her as he took mental notes and pictures. Her eyes, her sultry calm voice, her lips, her smile, her hair, her laugh, her hips, her arms, her rich skin, her perky chest, her hand on top of his, her breathe against the back of his neck, her chest lightly pressed against his back and the sway of her backside, all these things would get him through the nights when sometimes he craved more. He would put them together like the pieces in a puzzle to create this grandiose image in his mind of what it would be like for her to be truly his without the complications of possibly losing one of the truest companions he ever had. He bowed his head for a moment in shame for having these thoughts with everyone in the room and when he finally looked up his eyes wandered passed Maggie and to his son and saw the solemnness washed over his face. He realized Carl someone who loves Michonne just as much wanted to wait too so he knew what he had to do.

"Fine. We'll leave in the morning. Everyone go and get some rest. If they're not back by dawn then we all know the plan."

After saying the words and watching everyone make their moves towards the door in slow apprehension the exhaustion started to overcome yet he felt another sleepless night upon him. He did hope he would doze off long enough to at least have one of his dreams since it maybe all he would have left if his worst fears came to fruition.

 _ **Will Rick be able to relax and wait it out? We'll have to see. Check out the next chapter.**_


	2. Chapter 2 - We're Still Breathing

**_Hope you enjoyed the set-up of chapter one._**

 ** _This chapter picks right up from where we left off. Everyone has left and Carl and Judith are upstairs sleeping. Rick is trying to relax and wait it out til morning as he remembers the evening that followed Michonne, Carl and him being reunited after the fall of the prison._**

 **Chapter 2 – We're still breathing**

After everyone had left and Carl had went to bed. Rick looked around the house for one last clean sweep of anything out of place. Carol and Maggie had helped him clean up but he still thought of himself as the only one who knew exactly how Michonne liked the place to look. Once satisfied that it no longer looked like a ransacked mess he stretched out on the sofa to rest for the few hours they had til dawn. The silence and darkness all around him made it easy to close his eyes but it seemed too eerie to fall asleep. He realized since they arrived this had been one of the first times they had been this long without power. He tried to remember the last time he had been in a darkened house and the memory of the house he and Carl had found after the prison attack came to mind. He thought about how Michonne finding them had been one of the best things that ever happened to them after they had lost so much. That night she helped take his mind of all he had thought he lost especially baby Judith and instead claim what they still had left...

* * *

"Rick."

"What?"

He felt embarrassed by the look she shot his way.

"Sorry."

He didn't even realize he had stared a hole through Michonne while she tended to the gunshot wound on his left upper thigh. He broke his stare on her and looked around the ransacked home taking in the gutted red brick fireplace behind her with the empty mantel on top that he imagined once held family portraits and then near the stairs that led to the kitchen were he could make out the open white drawers and cabinets which acted as a leftover memory from their earlier search of the house but his eyes still ended up on Michonne as he took in her brown eyes staring with intensity as she focused on patching him up and her fingers worked in delicate motions through the hole in his black haggard jeans. He found himself staring still in awe of her and the way she appeared out of nowhere to save him from The Governor and then again at the home he and Carl took refuge in after leaving a smoked and rubble filled prison behind made him think 'destiny' still had some meaning in this world. Michonne's knack for showing up at just the right time baffled and amazed him. This reunion reinvigorated him after having being unconscious for almost a day he hadn't thought he would wake-up to a dream come true during this nightmare.

"Fine." She said as he noted the resignation in her voice.

Rick knew she meant he had permission to stare at her again even though it made her uncomfortable. He grimaced in pain as she tightened up the thread she wove in and out of his thigh but still a small smile came upon his face because this granted permission to take in her glowing brown skin that showed through her tattered dingy white top in the candlelight excited him and made him wonder if she actually felt the same excitement about their reunion. He saw the tears still in her eyes before he and Carl opened the door to let her into the house. He convinced himself that she too must think 'destiny' finally tossed them a bone.

"I'm done." He looked down at the patched up gunshot wound in wonderment. He saw that it looked barely irritated with only a hue of pink peeking through his pale light skin. He knew Michonne had spent some time with Hershel who offered to show her a few things but he didn't think she would be such a good student...then of course corrected his thinking as he knew firsthand that Michonne could will herself into achieving pretty much anything.

"Thank you." He said while trying to relax his cheeks and wipe away the small goofy grin off of his face.

"Does it hurt too much? Or feel too tight?"

He heard the concern in her voice and began to reassure her, "No, I'm fine. It's perfect. Didn't know so much could be done with a little bit of rubbing alcohol some string and a makeshift sewing needle."

He watched Michonne get up with a candle in hand. He knew she would have to blow out the candle soon since they didn't want to attract any attention and took in her face in the glow of the candlelight one last time as he watched her bring her lips into a small 'O' shape and blow out the candle leaving the evening moon that just came upon them and a couple of melted down candles on the coffee table as the only sources of light.

"You better get some rest. I'll take the first watch." Rick offered.

"No, you're the wounded one."

"Yeah, but I've been unconscious all day."

Rick looked at a shadowy image of Michonne as she shook her head in protest and watched her dreads sway ever so slight. Rick felt a battle coming on but he wanted Michonne to rest she deserved it. Thanks to her Carl now slept sound upstairs just from the comfort of her presence. He wanted to give her a break.

"Let me give you a break, Michonne."

"No Rick, you need to take a break."

"I'm done taking breaks."

Rick made himself speechless from his own words as they practically choked him and left a golf ball size lump in his throat. He felt that taking a break is what got them in this situation in the first place. He lost his home and Judith. He wondered what would have happened if they had secured the prison better, came up with a better escape plan and most of all continued the search for the Governor like Michonne had did. The feeling of failure washed over his body as he sat on the floor in this dark home with his back rested on a mildewed burgundy sofa hoping for safe harbor and another night of safety while contemplating what ifs. He realized he didn't want to take anymore breaks but he also didn't want to be alone either.

"Come here." He beckoned in a whisper. He didn't like the darkness and wanted her right by his side. He felt her hesitation and apprehension as she stayed put in her spot standing across from him and in a position to block the entry to the stairs. He could tell she had made herself comfortable away from him in protest to his request to take first watch. So he waited for her to move. Finally, he heard her move as the floorboard waned and creaked from the pressure of her boots and saw her dark silhouette grow in size from the shadows created by the moonlight coming in through the living room windows as she made her way over through the darkness.

He heard her take in and exhale a long deep breath. He felt her standing over him as he sat with his back against the couch by the door. The fact that he could feel her over him made him both excited and leery.

"I'm here." He heard her say in a light sultry tone. He tapped the space on the floor to the right of him. He thought even though she could barely see his gesture she knew what he meant. He jumped a little when she put her hand on his thigh to steady herself as she made her way to the floor. He heard her sigh again and felt the warmth of her body next to his. When he could finally tell she had settled in he began to whisper with his head facing towards her.

"When you came through that door I wanted to hug you but of course Carl beat me too it."

He felt her light chuckle and continued to speak in a hushed tone. "I know. I know you were looking for the Governor out there for so long even when the trail ran cold and I'm sorry I didn't do more to help you save the prison. To save our home. Now you just had to patch me up. I just don't think it's fair."

Rick felt his chest get heavy and stopped speaking he didn't want her to hear too much of the hurt or pain that weighed down his voice like a ton of bricks.

"Sometimes I wonder if I just went out there because I couldn't handle it inside. Then I decided to give up the search after Daryl, Bob, Ty and I returned with the meds."

He waited as she paused. He let the weight of all the names of all their friends who they would never see again bear down on his battered shoulders. For a minute they both turned their heads away from each other and stared into the darkness straight ahead shrouded in silence only filled by sounds of crickets and the evening breeze. Rick didn't want to force things when it came to Michonne since from past experience he learned if she didn't feel right or ready he would get some major pushback. He had learned to gently nudge, watch and wait to see what would be the best approach. Since he could barely see her and had already nudged enough with his demand for her to sit next to him he decided to try his last approach and just wait it out. He felt like he just won an award when he heard her voice again.

"I guess after Andrea and Woodbury I just didn't want another place where I would be let down again. But then I thought maybe the third time's the charm so I chose life again. I chose you all and the prison."

"And now it's all gone." Rick interrupted no longer wanting to hear the sadness in her voice.

Rick felt Michonne's position her body towards him and he reciprocated til he could almost panted knees touch and his thigh sparked with pain being re-position and their necks tilted as they took in each others' faces through the glint of the of the moon and candle glow with only a few breaths of space between them.

"We're still breathing. We're still here." He heard and felt Michonne say in a firm whisper. His eyes focused on her lips and then he looked down in realization.

Rick understood what she meant and grasped around in the dark for her hand. He felt Michonne's body respond to his touch as he traced his hand down the smooth skin of her left arm and he sighed with relief as his hand covered hers. He sensed his body and her body relax into the touch as his right thumb caressed the top of her bare hand.

'Fine.' He heard her say in a soft but firm voice.

He knew it meant they would both take first watch. But the sound of resign in Michonne's voice made him think it might have also meant she also agreed to something else. A team, a partnership, a home, a family, all these possibilities went through his mind but he didn't dare ask. He just wanted to enjoy this moment and it scared him that he might not get the answer he wanted. Then he wondered if he even knew what answer he really wanted. He felt her rest her head on his right shoulder and she breathed deep and then he started to realize he might know the answer after all.

 _ **This is what I hoped happened when the Richonne reunion scene cut off at the end of the episode 'After'. In this fan fic I like to keep things realistic to the world of TWD as it is currently on the show so I hope you all enjoyed that. Next chapter we will be checking on Michonne.**_


	3. Chapter 3 - Home

**_While Rick is contemplating the past and trying to hold out til morning, we now get to the whereabouts of Michonne._**

 **Chapter 3 - Home**

"You think they're okay? Right?"

Michonne found herself lost in a train of thought after sitting in silence and darkness for what seemed like an eternity. She finally looked up at Heath who sat opposite her slumped down with his long black jeaned legs fidgeting near hers and he played with a flashlight turning it off and on testing it and giving her flickered images of his young dark skinned face with dreads pulled back and almost blinding her with the refraction of the light against his wire rimmed eyeglasses.

She relaxed her chest and shoulders and responded, "Yes, they have to be. Glenn's one of the most resilient and resourceful people I've ever met. I'm sure he, Scott and Nicholas are fine."

She realized she must have given Heath some sort of look because his face changed to worry and he put the down the flashlight.

"Sorry didn't mean to bug you about it just don't know that much about him. Though he does seem tough as nails, all of you guys do anyway."

Michonne wanted to ease some of young man's guilt for questioning her, "I understand. You have no idea none of you really do of what we have been through and who we really are."

Silence filled the room again with only the sounds of moans and groans from the outside as Michonne readjusted herself and her thoughts started to wonder again just as she started to go back into her trance she heard Heath's voice again, "Just for the record I really wasn't talking about Glenn, Scott and Nicholas anyway . I really meant every one back at home. Do you think they're okay?"

The word 'home' stung her like an angered wasp. She knew she could get out of this but had wondered if Rick believed in her ability more than he believed in his own fears. She remembered how unhinged he had been lately and just as she started to see the Rick she knew come back after a few days of peace in the safe zone…the Wolves attack and wiped out any thoughts of peaceful living like a destructive monsoon and she watched him revert to paranoia and mania again. She left Rick to hold down the fort since the run crew needed extra people after the loss of Aiden and Noah, and Tara's head injury. She remembered the meeting inside the makeshift garage church where Glenn though still not completely healed volunteered to keep going out and Heath and Scott old members of the run crew offered their services again. She felt at the pit of her stomach she couldn't trust Glenn alone with Nicholas, not after he had attacked Glenn and left others behind to die. She hated feeling useless so she threw he hat in the ring after Rick said they would probably need one more person. The intensity of shock and worry on Rick's face after she volunteered still embedded in her memory but he didn't say a word just nodded his head in agreement on the new crew with Deanna's blessing and moved onto new business. That look still made her feel uneasy and made her worry that now Rick's fears for her would start to get the best of him and she very well knew he'd probably pace the floor with worry since they hadn't returned on time from their run. She just hoped someone talked him down from the ledge at least for Carl and Judith's sake. Michonne trying to shake herself of the thoughts of home and worried Rick looked up at Heath to answer his question,

"I'm trying to stay in the here and now. If things clear out we meet up with the others and be back by dawn. I just don't want anyone to do anything…" She trailed off not wanting to vocalize her thoughts but Heath picked up where she left off,

"Stupid…yeah I know. But if you haven't noticed that's pretty much seems to be all anyone does nowadays. At least your group seems interesting. I thought at the end of the world maybe I'd at least not have to deal with vapid useless people every day but then I found the Safe Zone and you can guess how that went. Deanna is smart but only as smart as a politician can be. I'd been advocating a while for them to get everyone trained and add more watches after being out here on runs and seeing all this shit. But I'm one guy and Deanna's all about what you used to do. I used to just be a temp at a law firm so that pretty much put me in some grey area with her. Sorry, I'm rambling. I know we should stay quiet but I'm getting claustrophobic and I tend to ramble when I get nervous."

"It's okay let's just keep it down." A few beats passed as she could feel her breath become almost silent as she held it in. She let it out in a big exhale once she heard Heath rustle and begin to speak again,

"So you I guess that means you really think they will come looking for us. That's pretty risky after everything that has happened with us being attacked we need bodies to stay put. It's bad enough we're out here. But I guess it's like I said all people do now are stupid things."

"Yes, it's risky and possibly stupid but if I know Rick…"

She trailed off after she realized hearing herself say his name aloud made her feel better but at the same time anxious. She wanted to leave it there and live within the sound of his name out of her mouth and whatever feelings rose up inside of her. She knew Rick was coming she felt it. She just didn't want anyone putting themselves at risk once again.

"Yeah, Rick. Do you ever worry about him? I mean he seems kind of off. You seem like good folks and all and I'm glad to have some others that have a lot of experience outside the walls but Rick…"

"Quiet, did you hear that?" Michonne interrupted after she felt her ears perk up at the closeness of the sounds coming from the other side of the door. "I think they are getting through the first trap we made. Shit we have to go move now while we still have time." Michonne stood up and gestured to Heath to do the same even though they could barely make each other out in the darkness of the small supply room.

She watched as Heath got up and moved passed her towards the window and he spoke in hushed panic, "Move where? The only place could be out this window with the rope we found but there's like six or seven roamers down there…"

After hearing his assessment, Michonne decided to make her move and nudged Heath away from the window with her body and laid out her plans, "I'll go down first then clear it out and then you follow."

"What are you sure?"

Michonne getting a bit frustrated with the back and forth answered with sharp quickness, "Yes, there's way more about to barrel through that door." She thought about how even Carl would laugh at the small crowd of walkers eight stories below them and made herself even more anxious to get back to make sure Carl and Judith slept safe and sound tonight. She darted her eyes back at Heath after looking down at the walkers again as he once again doubted her abilities, "I mean are you sure you can handle those walkers by yourself?"

Michonne could feel her neck relax and a small grin start to appear on her face as she responded, "Like I said you really have no idea."

* * *

After securing the rope to a sturdy shelf full of cleaning supplies, Michonne repelled down the wall and stopped short of six feet from the ground and looked down at the walkers congregating as their arms stretched towards her and their black rotten teeth chomped at her sight with eyes bugled out of their sockets of their melted fleshy faces. As the rope resisted she looked at the jaws and bones sticking out their mouths like branches on a tree and dark and decayed whites of the bone had turned brownish and black colored marrow and a rush of energy followed through her veins. She had her katana flung around her shoulder, a magnum on her the right of her hip and a sharp edged knife on her left. She removed the serrated edged knife from its sheath and gripped it tight with her left hand and gave the rope a tug using with her fingerless brown leather gloved right hand. She tightened her grip on the rope even more as her long black blonde tipped dreads held back by a colorful mosaic print headband swung side to side in a delayed mimic of her body when she started to push off the wall back and forth building up momentum. She finally felt she had gain enough momentum and with a final push of her black boots against the dingy red brick wall of the building she sailed in the air with her knife in her left hand and her other hand pointed downward to brace herself as she went face first into the crowd of walkers penning down the walker that was the farthest back and she swiftly stabbed it between its yellowish eyes.

She left the blade in the walker's skulls and with knees penned to the ground and braced by her right hand she reached back with her left and unsheathed her katana and turned around on the balls of her feet as she felt the walkers now fast approaching her back. She steady herself on the balls of her feet gripped the katana at its handle with both hands and pulled the blade back til it she could almost feel the steel lightly touch her left ear and with a swift downward half circle swipe took out the legs of the three walkers closest to her left. Her ears registered the light and squishy thud of the walkers' torsos tumbling to the concrete floor.

She then sprung up like a jack in the box and move a few inches backward in the tight alley to take in her surrounding with a quick scan of her eyes. She realized she only had three walkers left as they came towards her single file with arms stretched and aimed at her throat. She readied her katana in front of her face holding the handle of the steel blade with both hands as it glistened for a moment under the moonlight and she released her left hand from handle of the blade and tightened the grip of her right and bent her right elbow slight and attacked the one in the front of the line with a quick slice and watched as its head rolled to the ground. She positioned both hands on the handle again and spun around and not no more than two seconds later and caught one of the walkers right in the middle of its gushy skull sending its top off and splashing greyish brain matter against the red brick wall of the building. Fueled with adrenaline the katana felt lightweight in her hands as she stabbed the last one in the chest and pinned it to the ground where it laid flailing it's arms and legs caught between the ground and her katana and she then pulled her katana out of its chest with both hands and observed the blood and entrails slide off the shiny steel and onto the ground and she felt her back contract as she pulled her katana back towards her right shoulder as far as it could go and thrusted the pointy tip of the blade right into the middle of the walker's skull and quickly pulled it back out. She looked around to survey the scene as three walker torsos clawed their way towards her she went to each one by one and drove her katana through the skulls of each as the alley echoed the splats each time the katana made contact with the mushed brains of the walkers. She felt the weight of the katana in her right wrist after she flicked the katana of the spoils of its kills and watched rotten guts and dark red blood disappear into the moonlight to revel the shine of the steel with a light swoosh of the blade through the thick night air. She looked up at the window she had just propelled down and took in the sight of a Heath staring down at her blanked face as she assumed must have been a look of shock.

She just realizing how hard her chest moved up and down with each breath she steadied herself and said in a loud whisper looking up at Heath, "Come on down Heath, we have to try to find Glenn and the rest and get back home before dawn." She knew she had to make it back before Rick did anything rash.

 _ **Looks like our girl is fighting hard to get back. Will Rick and Michonne have their reunion soon or will it end up with Rick going out to look for her and the rest of the run crew?**_


End file.
